


San Francisco

by robertstanion



Series: PEIPHQ Shenanigans [16]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Homophobia, M/M, Racism, Slurs, Songfic, Wedding, backstory babey!!!, being kicked out, no slurs are spoken in the chapter, song: san francisco by niall horan, trigger warnings here:, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robertstanion/pseuds/robertstanion
Summary: John and Xander, during their first dance, remind themselves on how on earth they wound up like that
Relationships: John McNamara/Xander Lee
Series: PEIPHQ Shenanigans [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764349
Kudos: 6





	San Francisco

**Author's Note:**

> Two facts:
> 
> One: on the 27th of September 2020, in my second multi-chapter fic on ao3 by the name of The Angel Heaven Sent, which is the second instalment in the Something You Pine For Series, John and Xander got married  
> Two: this is my 69th fic which is pretty fucking nice
> 
> anyways, i really hope you enjoy, it's partially rushed but focuses on john and xander's backstory-  
> proceeding-

When John McNamara had had his first day at Hatchetfield High, and managed to befriend Xander Lee after a particular incident, it was clear to the entire school how inseparable the two were about to become. John hadn’t had any friends, and though he’d sat beside Xander all day, it’s not like they’d spoken to each other. But, when their lunch break came, and John heard the sniffling that came from around the corner, he knew he had to something.

He held the bag strap tightly as he peered around and saw two guys towering over the kid he knew as Xander, who was curled up against the wall, cornered. John saw the opportunity and stormed forward. He wasn’t usually this violent, he’d never been violent, but when he heard that slur come out of that boy’s mouth, he grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him to the ground. “Get off of him.”

“And what are you gonna do about it, Macky?” The one, who was still towering over Xander, said, but John already had an answer.

“Well, firstly, I think I’ll- you know what? The element of surprise’ll work better here. So, fuck off, and never look back. He deserves to be at this school just as much as anybody else, so leave him _alone.”_

With semi-hesitation, the two began to back off, which left a quaking, whimpering Xander in their place. John, carefully, crouched down in front of him, taking his bag off and setting it beside him. He unzipped it and pulled out a medical kit, looking at the smaller boy in front of him. “I’m John. You’re Xander, right?”

“I didn’t _need_ your help.”

“I know you didn’t, and you’re probably somebody who’s very very good at taking care of themself, but I also thought that, if somebody else didn’t stand in for you, they wouldn’t have left you alone.” He smiled slightly at him as he peered out from the comfort of his arms. “It doesn’t seem like you have any friends to watch out for you. Well, I think I can change that.”

“Why would I want to be _your_ friend?” Xander asked, not with any means to offend, or saying it out of disgust, more out of confusion

John, getting a better look at Xander’s injuries, opened his medical kit and pulled the correct equipment out. “Because I am very good at being people’s friends. Well I hope I am. All the people who have claimed to be my friend have always talked rubbish about me behind my back…and also have said not some nice things about me as well. But I am very proud to say that I haven’t ever said nothin’ bad about them behind theirs, and the same will go for you.”

Xander wiped his eyes and looked at John more, and then his eyes flicked down to the medical kit. “I would like a friend…”

“Then I’ll be your friend.” John smiled slightly more as he sat down on the gravel, tilting his head at Xander. “Would you like some help cleaning up?”

“Please, I don’t know where to start.” He laughed wetly as more tears spilled, as John began to bandage him up.

That was the start of it.

* * *

They were friends for so long, and then everything changed when they gained crushes on each other, and they discovered their sexualities.

By the time John knew he was gay, his father was an alcoholic and would use him as a punching bag, wasting no opportunity to call him a slur, or comment on his lack of good grades. His mother was trying her hardest. On top of being a nurse, she’d gone through the loss of so many people close to her, and managed to somewhat maintain as stable as she could. She assisted John on his schoolwork whenever she had free time, and _she_ ran the house. When she wasn’t working, or helping John, she was her husband’s “toy,” and she vowed on her life to get her and John out of the situation they were in one day. One day, at most.

By the time Xander knew he was gay, his mother had called him a disappointment, and his father had said she wanted a divorce immediately. Xander’s father, well, adopted father, who’d been a PEIP agent, had raised him from the age of 13 onwards. He’d watched as Xander’s powers became too strong, and he’d watched as Xander grew into them. He watched as Xander embraced his sexuality, became taller, and all around became a beautiful young boy.

And yet, the two managed to gain crushes on the other, and they didn’t know how to deal with it. On John’s behalf, he’d never had a crush in his life, so he struggled to disguise how he truly felt at first, but managed semi-efficiently, and with Xander?

Xander became a disaster.

When it came to graduating, they threw their arms around each other out of delight, and laughed, with beads of joy falling down their faces. They’d both been so close to each other, and they must have been feeling the same thing in that moment, for they both leaned in, closed their eyes, and what could have been them sealing their indefinite relationship was interrupted by someone clasping their hand on John’s shoulder.

When they pulled away and left that school, they promised to stay in contact with each other, and that their bond would never fade, but going two separate ways also meant a reluctancy to call the other, or even to try and find their house.

When John watched as his drunk father screamed at him, throwing all of his things in a bag, throwing slurs around like it was nothing. John was screaming back, shouting a “THIS IS THE TRUTH, THIS IS WHO I AM, AND THIS IS WHO I’VE ALWAYS BEEN,” as he cried. His mother, defenceless and unable to help, watched from the door, crying herself. She watched as her husband picked John up by the collar and threw him out of the door, slamming it behind him. John hit his closed fists against the door, his voice becoming hoarse as he eventually gave up, and figured he were homeless. His first thought had to originally go to Xander, but they’d drifted, and hadn’t spoken in weeks, and there was no way he’d be let in, so he walked off to a deserted piece of the island, made comfort in a shallow area in the wall that would protect him from the weather.

Three weeks after, a man with slicked back auburn hair, clad fully in denim, had crouched down in front of him and offered him a job, a home, and a family. John had been reluctant until the man, Wilbur, had mentioned John’s mother, and how concerned she was. John had been more eager then, and once they’d made it back to Wilbur’s very, very large house, he saw his mother waiting for him. It was a sickeningly sweet reunion, but it was one, nonetheless.

Then Wilbur passed, and for once in his life, the sun was shining on John. PEIP was technically considered a military branch, though until it was confirmed and registered, it wasn’t. It meant that, since nobody had stepped up to the general position, the letter came through the door, and the position was placed on John. His mother had fitted his uniform for him, and things had looked up.

When he was 22, he had an interview to attend, and when he did, he walked into the room and saw a leather jacket wearing, tall man with short black hair, wearing shades. When John had sat down at his desk and looked into the eyes of the man before him, he didn’t need a prompt to be reminded of who he was. Alexander James Lee became his theoretical physicist, and they were immediately back in each other’s lives.

As they became closer, they started spending nights with each other, and going to the other’s place after work. John met Xander’s father for the first time as his boss as the moon shined overhead, and sometimes they’d drink until the sun rose, but they both shared the same thoughts. The wanted to wake up to each other, and there wasn’t a single piece of doubt between them that they dared to consider.

They’d get drunk sometimes, and the lights would fade, and they were unable to resist the fact that they could still feel the other’s lips on theirs the day after, though they had yet to remember a time where it lasted. They changed, and they longed for each other more and more and more. John found himself overthinking soft glances that would come from Xander, and Xander didn’t know what to do when he caught John’s blue eyes in his. The one thing that remained the same was how they felt.

The first time they kissed sober was in Vegas, and they’d held each other the same night without the fear of having to say goodbye. Xander, in the depths of the night, had mumbled into John’s hair, how he wished he hadn’t had been so cruel when John had been at his worst, thinking John had been asleep. He hadn’t. He’d stayed awake because of the surrealism that had been his once best-friend holding him tightly.

Little by little, they found each other letting down their defences, and their first fight had certainly been something that ended their familiarity. It had set all of their guards down, as they’d screamed at each other in the dead of night over something stupid, something so _incredibly_ stupid, and yet, they’d heard each other out and came to a compromise. They hadn’t spoken to each other for three days, but that soon ended as they their partner in their arms.

Confessions became steady as they aged, and as they aged, missions became more dangerous, and sort of confessions that had been “I’ll miss you,” and “don’t forget to drink water once in a while,” became “I hope you make it back, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” or “I love you.” In their worst times, they knew that they’d lay it out on the line for them.

It didn’t take much for them to make up their minds, where they realised that they wanted to spend eternity with each other. Sure, their relationship hadn’t been easy, and there had been times where they’d began to hate each other, unable to look in the other’s eyes without a sour emotion that stayed settling and swirling in their gut, so they had to take breaks. Sometimes it was fairly often, and they figured from the first time that they’d never last, but each break came harder than the other, and they weren’t able to let go…or move on. There was a particular time that John showed up on Xander’s doorstep in the middle of the night, his hair soaked, in a coat and his uniform that stuck to him, and neither said a word. As soon as John was back in his arms, he uttered a phrase which changed him forever. “ _I’m done running from you. You’re the one that I want so bad, and please, Xander, take me back. Take me back, because I miss you.”_

They became stronger after every fight, which meant every break was harder. And there was the frequent drunk dial that happened, which consisted of John talking about Xander’s ass a lot, and Xander smiled. He kept every voicemail, because he knew they’d officially gone the full way. They couldn’t back out, they couldn’t say that it was too late, for they were the closest they’d been in a long time. There were bad days, and there were fights that left Xander pacing in the dead of night, that often ended with head-in-hands, tears falling as he broke, and he kept breaking, trying to think of a way to make it up to John if he could.

And then they got engaged, and they found each other kissing each other more like it would be the last goodbye, holding each other like, if they let go, they’d leave forever and find someone new, someone better. Yet, in their darkest times, they’d scream and scream and scream, but not during fights. They’d scream to the sky, sometimes alone, sometimes together, about how they’d treat the other the best that they could.

And it led to now.

It lead to Xander grabbing John’s arms and twirling him around on the dance floor in the middle of their wedding, John laughing deeply, his head tipped back as he landed against Xander’s chest, capturing him in a kiss. Two bands of metal, each with the other’s initial engraved into it, that John hung on the chain around his neck, and Xander wore his on his hand. It confirmed their love, and it confirmed their choice for eternity.

Because Xander Lee-McNamara and John McNamara-Lee knew, no matter what came at them, they’d stay. After all, who was better for the other than their first, and only, friend.

**Author's Note:**

> yo so i was watching ghosts on bbc iplayer right and series 2 episode 3 had me soBBing like no,,, you can't make me cry over a dead WW2 soldier who was simping for his lieutenant who was transferred to north africa even though the feelings were clearly one sided but holy fuck im actually in tears it's not even funny
> 
> anyways hello peiphq community how we doin


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